God and Goals
From the Series—Visioneering
July 30, 2002This past weekend, NCC hosted it’s first Inward Bound retreat. One thing NCCers walked away with was a list of life goals. Goals aren’t just a good idea. Goals are a God idea. Hebrews 11:1 says faith is “being sure of what we hope for.” In a sense, a goal-less life is a faith-less life. Setting godly goals can be expression of faith!
Life Goals
In 1940, a fifteen-year-old boy named John Goddard sat down on a rainy afternoon and wrote “My Life List” at the top of a blank piece of paper. He proceeded to list 127 life goals. Here are a few of them that he has already accomplished:
Climb Mt. Kilimanjaro
Learn Jujitsu
Study primitive culture in Borneo
Land on and take off from an aircraft carrier
Run a mile in five minutes
Go on a church missions trip
Retrace the travels of Marco Polo and Alexander the Great
Visit the Pope
Learn French, Spanish, and Arabic
Photograph Victoria Falls in Rhodesia
Milk a poisonous snake
Skin dive to 40 feet and hold breath 2 ½ minutes underwater
Play the flute and violin
Light a match with a .22 rifle
Build a telescope
Read the Bible from cover to cover
Circumnavigate the globe
Visit the Birthplace of Grandfather Sorenson in Denmark
Publish an article in National Geographic magazine
By the time he turned fifty, John Goddard had accomplished 108 of his 127 goals. He’s still working on a few of them--like visiting the moon and appearing in a Tarzan movie! I don’t know John Goddard. But here’s what I do know. John Goddard would not have accomplished those goals if he had not set those goals. Let me give you a neurological reason why goal-setting is so powerful and so important.
The Reticular Activation System
At the base of our brainstem, there is a cluster of nerve cells that form the reticular activating system (RAS). You are constantly bombarded by countless stimuli--sights and sounds and smells. The RAS serves as a filter. It’s the brain’s radar system--it determines what gets noticed and what goes unnoticed.
If you buy a new car, you will suddenly notice that same kind of car everyplace you go. It’s not like everyone went out and bought the same car at the same time you did. It’s the simple fact that when you bought the car, it created a category in your reticular activating system. You notice what went unnoticed. It now registers on your radar screen.
In her book, Mindfulness, Ellen Langer says that all of us have “premeditated cognitive commitments.” Translation: we tend to see what we’re looking for. If you’re skeptical or critical, you’re going to find something to be skeptical or critical about. A pessimist will always see something bad in a good situation and an optimist will always see something good in a bad situation.
Paul gives some priceless advice in Philippians 4:8--a list of eight “premeditated cognitive commitments.” He says, “Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things.”
A few years ago, I made a New Years Resolution to keep a gratitude journal. It was inspired by Psalm 100:2, “Forget not all His benefits.” Everyday I vowed to find three things I was grateful for and write them in my journal. As I look back on that season of my life, I realize that I’ve never been more grateful. If you’re looking for things to be grateful for you’re going to find things to be grateful for. That gratitude journal created a category in my RAS. No matter how bad a day I had, my RAS knew I needed to find three things each day to be grateful for!
Mindfulness
Ellen Langer says, “Mindlessness sets in when we rely too rigidly on categories created in the past.” We need to create new categories. Jesus called them new “wine skins.” That’s where goals come into play. When you set goals you create categories. Your RAS will start noticing anything and everything that will help you achieve those goals.
Ellen Langer says, “Just as mindlessness is the rigid reliance on old categories, mindfulness means the continual creation of new ones.” Create some new categories. Set some godly goals and go for it. Here are seven categories to get you started in goal setting:
Relational--think about the different relational roles you play
Physical--how can you keep “the Temple of the Holy Spirit” in good condition
Intellectual--what do you want to learn
Personal--where do you want to go and what do you want to do
Occupational--think about your calling and career
Financial--think about managing, investing, and giving
Spiritual--what are some spiritual disciples you need to develop
Once you set some godly goals, turn your goal list into a prayer list.
Prayer Mode
One key to achieving goals is living in “prayer mode.” Colossians 4:2 says, “Devote yourselves to prayer being watchful and thankful.” The word “watchful” is a thrown back to the Old Testament “watchman” whose job it was to sit on the city wall and keep watch. They were the first one’s to see. People who pray see things before others do! The Aramaic word for prayer is slotha. It means, “to set a trap.” Prayer is setting your mind like a trap so that you catch the thoughts of God. It is a state of total attentiveness to the what the Spirit of God is saying and doing in and around you.
We ought to live in a state of “expectant waiting"--watching and waiting to see what God is going to do next. A.W. Tozer said, “When we come to a place where everything can be predicted and nobody expects anything unusual from God, we are in a rut.” Prayer is the key to getting out of a spiritual rut.
Psalm 5:3 is one of my favorite passages on prayer. It’s the RAS in action. David says, “In the morning, O Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation.”
Prayer creates categories and increases expectations! David’s radar is on and his antennae is up. He’s watching and waiting for God to answer his requests. Jesus said we have not because we ask not. In the words of Matthew 7:7, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.”